We, as stage managers, absorb a lot of different energy throughout a rehearsal day. Sometimes it is super fantastic creative moments that you almost can’t believe that you get to be a part of. I mean come on, even the most buttoned up among us has to admit when you see true talent and craftsmanship at work it makes you want to put down your Dixon Ticonderoga and let all your senses soak that shit in! Other times, its business as usual, hours spent on details that may or may not  come across in the final product. Then there are the times the room is a pressure filled environment where creative people are taxed and they generously share that tension with you or better take it out on you. Here’s the best part, if you are super lucky you get another group of artists, the design team, that are not in the rehearsal room, but equally as stressed coming at you about their needs. Its pretty fantastic shit and no amount of Calgon is going to take you away (please note this is a late 1980’s reference, but I don’t know a new millennial version). You my friend are right in the middle of a creative process midlife crisis and it is real! A show goes from infancy, childhood, puberty & wild youth before we are really a part of the process.  By the time we are deeply involved you typically have a mature piece of theatre going through a divorce, working out, loosing weight and buying a Maserati convertible. Its about high stakes time, money and public attention.

“By letting go it all gets done.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

This quote by Lao Tzu couldn’t be more wrong, right? We can’t “let it all go”, that’s nuts. We need to take every detail on and manage it. That’s our job, we manage the stage and the stage is created by these often emotional minds coming together? I’m not too sure Mr Tzu is so wrong. I don’t think he is saying throw your hands up and quit. I believe we as Stage Managers have to let all that negative energy go. Strip away all the side eye and exasperation and do the task on hand. Imagine if you didn’t contribute to the tension at all. If you could actually let it go and focus on what needs to be done. This is not an easy ask! We managers are human beings, several of us are artists in our hearts and not “Management” performing our task without humanity. I struggle with this every day, but I find when I really am able to rise above and keep what needs to be done in focus it makes every task more doable and allows things to actually get done. “Letting go” is a practice, a discipline you must work every day. You might do it by writing a list with all the emotion attached and then cross through anything that isn’t a doable task. Make real the things that you need to let go in order to actually let them go. Maybe you need to walk away and breath for a moment and then take a look at the real task. If you are able to master this, bless you, if you are like me you will need to constantly remind yourself but the results are worth it. We can get it all done.